The stressful part of this day was knowing that we would be meeting with the surgeons following the scan to find out more details about the tumor and the possibility of it being removed (best case scenario). We waited and waited for Dom’s scan as they were running about 45 mins behind. Dom had to fast all morning (again) and was being such a good sport. Dom had to be completely asleep for the procedure so that she would be still for the scan. The anaesthetic used on Dominique was Propofol and it worked well. For some reason, parents of children under 1 year old are not allowed to be in the room while the child is put under. So we handed her to the nurse and waited. Dom woke up quickly following the scan and the nurse came to get us with Dom in her arms. Dom was goofy and in good spirits and drank some apple juice. We then made our way to our appointment with the surgeon to find out more details. We waited over an hour past our appointment.

Dr. Macculough explained that only one tumor was picked up on the scan (thank god). But unfortunately, the tumor is larger than believed (4×4 cm) and is located too close to neural networks posing a risk should they remove the tumor. The surgeon suggested chemotherapy to shrink the tumor prior to considering future removal. I suddenly felt devastated and cried with Dominique and Sylvain in my arms. Dr. Macculough said they would biopsy the tumor and insert a permanent central line into her superior vena cava (chest vein) for future chemotherapy treatments.

To prepare for the following day surgery, we had to go to the pre-admission clinic at the hospital where the nurse asked us some of the same questions we had already been asked a million times. I was in no mood and was still in tears from the surgeons’ news. We met with an anastesist who commented if I could endure 60 hours of labour than I could make it through this. I won’t waste anymore time on this…man. We were informed Dom needed more blood drawn in case she required a blood transfusion during the surgery. So up to the blood clinic we went. Dom cried once again as they drew her blood. The anger was setting in. I thought- why couldn’t they have done this test when they took her blood last Thursday? We had been at the hospital from 8:30am- 3:30pm.

We went home and I went to bed and cried for a good hour until I got the strength to e-mail the news.

Time spent in the hospital on that day: 7 hours